Harmonic attachment for piano or organ keyboards.



vw. E. DINWIDDIE.

HARMONIC ATTACHMENT FOR PIANO 0R ORGAN KEYBOARD-S.-

' I I APPLICATION FILED MAY 21. 1913.. I 1,246,068. Patented Nov. 13, 1917 2 SHEETSSHEET I.

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HARMONIC ATTACHMENT FORHANO 0R ORGAN K EYBOARDS. APPLICATION FILED MAY 21. [9T3- I,246,'O68. Patented Nov. 13, 1917.

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WI LIAM E. bmwmm, 01* canon, Artisan, "dANAnA.

HARMONIC ATTACHMENTTFQR Hanoioa ofiGANfKnYiaoARDs.

Application filed. May 21, 1913. Serial No. 768,926.

Toallwhom it may concern: I

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM E. DIN- WIDDIE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cappon, in the ProvinceofAlberta and Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Harmonic Attachments for Piano or Organ Keyboards, of which the following is a specification. This invention relates to a keyboard at tachment adapted to be placed in position upon either an organ or piano, whereby the chords of various musical compositions may be Jplayed without the player fingering the individual notes or being acquainted with the names of the various keys.

The inventionalso includes a false key.- board, employed for the reason that by using the same, all of the keys visible are normally in the same horizontal plane, whereas upon the regular keyboard the back keys project above the white keys and are also of less length.

The invention consists essentially of one or more flexible bars arranged above the keyboardand extending transversely across the keys, said bars beingprovided with foot portions properly spaced'upon each bar so that when portions of the 'bars are depressed, the footportions of the depressed part of the bar will carry downwardly the keys engaged by said foot portions, leaving undisturbed the remaining keys. 2

It will be understood of course, that the foot portions of each bar are so spaoed'as to engage those keys sounding notes common to a certain chord, and as many bars may be employed as it may be necessary. 7

While many compositions may be played in a satisfactory manner by the use ofthree bars, I have found that by using "five a greater variety may be obtained and the use of five bars also permits the introduction of chords of a related key and also the playing of pieces in two keys without longitudt nal shifting of the flexible bars. I

Itwill also be understood that by shifting said bars the shifting of the footrportions from engagement with one set of notes will transpose from one key to another so that pieces may be played in any majorkey without' substituting additional bars. Bars may also be provided for playing minor keys by proper, grouping of the footportions provided.

- Fig. 1.

the devi e hand is slipped along the bars and the proper'bar'is depressed, but that as the bars are flexible the entire bar is not depressed to such an extent'as to sound all of the notes throughout the whole range of the keyboard for whichfoot portions are For example if the treble "portion of a bar is depressed only those notes of the chord in a treble willbe sounded, and consequently the foot portions being shown only upon the front bar. p v p Fig. l is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 5 aplanvi added so as'toshow their relative arrangement upon the bars. v c l s Fig- 6 is a section on the line 66. of Fi 5. I f I p I n constructing the preferred form of the device, "I provide, a suitable frame comprising a longitudinally extending rear member 1, two .forwardly projecting members 2 and a front member 2 connecting the end members2. In .the device thus constructed seriesoffalse keysfi are suitably carried by the. underside of the member 1 ,being mounted'thereupon in any suitable manner which will permit their depression and guided by pins 1 which extend betweenthe keys 3. These. keys areallof the same length and those which extend above the white keys are-provided with small blocks 4 upon their underside as shown in Fig. 2, said blocks resting upon the white keys and holding the false keys 3 in. exactly the same horizontal plane as 'the tfa1sekeys which rest upon the black i seam regular: keyboard.

5 '1l 'w l a-b l nderstoqd thariniplai ig vltr'vifllibe. nas i ted th i e s r w partly broken away I illustrating a modified form for holding the bars in position, the foot ,portions being Specificationofletters'latent. Trimme 3, 9 "7 sired manner and in the construction shown in Fig.1,the ends of the bars are supported upon the blocks 2, and the various bars are connected together by means of the spring clamps 7, or in any other suitable manner, so that all of the bars will shift lengthwise at the same time and to the same extent. Upon one of the blocks 2 I provide a suitable rack 8 and a suitable notched plate 9 for the purpose of receiving the ends of the clamps 7 thereby locking the bars against shifting while in use. This locking mecha nism also serves to indicate the position of the bars for use in certain keys as for eX- ample with the clamps in the fourth notch as shown'in Figs. 1 and 3 the foot portions are so grouped that the bars will play chords in the keys of (land Gr. By shifting the clamp at the right hand end from one notch to another the bars are also shifted so as to transpose successively from one key to another, or in the case of five or more bars from one group of keys to another.

While it is preferable, where possible, to support the bars from the ends, it frequently happens that there is not a suflicient shelf at the ends of the keyboard to permit the proper longitudinal shifting of the bars when supported as shown in Fig. 1.

It therefore becomes necessary to cut off the surplus end portions of the bars and support them from the frame 1. This support can be by means of any suitable form of spring arm which will permit ready downwardmovement of the bars and at the same time aid their return to normal position.

It is also essential that these spring arms be so arranged that the arms which support one bar will not interfere with downward movement of the other bars, and it is therefore obvious that if said arms were secured directly either to the top orbottom faces of the bars, the pressing of one bar would carry other bars downwardly with the one pressed. I therefore prefer to employ fiat spring arms 10 and in order that all of said arms may shift together, I secure them at their inner ends to a -plate 11 adjustable along the frame 1, and such adjustment may i be provided for by means of a series of perforations 12,- formed in thecentral portion of the strip 11, and adapted to be engaged by a pin 13, carried by the frame 1.

In order to prevent the strip 11 from swinging upon the. pin 13' as a pivot, the endportion is slotted as shown at M, and a second pin 15 projects into said slot.

The arms 10 are curved downwardly and each bar is secured at its outer end to a foot portion6 of the bar which it is designed to support. For some chord arrangements especially where there are five or more bars, it will be necessary to have some of the arms pass around foot portions of another bar, but this can be readily accomplished by re ducing the width of the bar, cutting it out upon the side or slotting it.

I prefer to use a flat strip for the arms as there would, in this case, be less tendency upon the part of the arm to give laterally and thereby allow accidental longitudinal shifting of the bars under the sliding pressure of the hands.

It will be obvious that in the form shown in Fig. 5 the shifting of the strip 11 and the engagement of the pin 18 with successive perforations produces exactly the same transposing from one key to another as is produced by shifting the clamp 7 in the form shown in Fig. 1.

In order to more clearly illustrate the operation of the device, it will be assumed that when the bars are in the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 5, that is with the bars locked in one case by the clamp 7 engaging a middle notch and in the other case by the pin 13 engaging the middle perforation 12 that the keys C and G are the ones to be played in.

Assumingthat the first key at the left hand end (Fig; 5) is D and that the first key shown 'complete'in the central portion is C it will be obvious from the dotting of the' foot portions-that the third bar from the front will-play the tonic chord, or with the bars locked in the position shown denote C, E, and G. The fourth bar carries four footp'ortions to the octave engaging in this key the notes G, B, D and F thus giving the chord of the dominant seventh, and the last bar has three foot portions tothe octave engaging the notes F, A G forming the 'chord of the sub-dominant.

This gives the principal chords in this key, and these three bars can be employed,

by themselves if desired, but by having five bars I allow for the use of chords in a rebars are in such position that the third bar sounds the tonic in the key of C, and the second bar gives the dominant seventh in the key of G. This second bar which lies adjacent to the bar having the tonic of the key of C also provides means for giving in said key the F sharp frequently found as an accidental in said key. This arrangement of the foot portions is made quite clear in Fig. 3 where those carried by the first bar are shown in front elevation, and assumingthat the highest note on theorgan is F it will be noted that these foot portions bear upon the false keys overlying the keys producing the notes G, B and D.

What I claim is 1. The combination with a musical keyboard, of a plurality of flexible bars arranged above said keyboard, and foot portions spaced along each of said bars in alinement with selected keys, and adapted to engage them on depression of portions of the bars.

2. The combination With a piano or organ keyboard, of false keys placed above and adjacent the same, flexible bars, and means carried bythe flexible bars for engaging and depressing selected false keys, said false keys actuating the organ or piano keys beneath them.

3. The combination with a piano or organ keyboard, of a false keyboard resting thereon, flexible bars arranged above and adjacent to said false keyboard, foot portions carried by the bars, the foot portions of each bar being spaced on said bar to actuate keys sounding tones of a musical chord, said bars being adjustable longitudinally, and means for holding the bars in adjusted position.

4. The combination with the keyboardof an organ or piano, of a false keyboard carried thereby and registering with the regular keyboard, flexible barsarranged above and Copies of this patent may be obtained for adjacent said false keyboard, and foot portions carried by said bars and located to depress selected keys upon depression of portions of the bars, the foot portions of each bar being spaced to produce chords.

5. The combination With a piano or organ keyboard, of a false keyboard mounted thereon, a series of flexible bars arranged above the false keyboard, foot portions spaced along each of said bars in position to engage keys of the false keyboard, and means for supporting said bars, the foot portions of each bar being located to actuate keys of said false keyboard to produce tones of a chord, the spacing of the foot portions of one bar producing a chord having a definite harmonic relation to those produced by depression of the other bars.

6. The combination with a piano or organ keyboard, of a false keyboard carried thereby, the keys of which correspond to and actuate those of the regular keyboard, all keys of said false keyboard being normally in the same horizontal plane, flexible bars extending over said false keyboard and being longitudinally adjustable, depending portions carried by said bars and adapted -to engage keys of the false keyboard, the

depending portions of one bar being spaced to engage keys to produce a tonic chord, those of an adjacent bar engaging keys to produce the chord of the dominant seventh, and the depending portions of the remaining bars engaging keys to produce related chords.

WVILLIAM E. DINWIDDIE. Witnesses:

E. C. HIoKEY, E. B. MOBATH.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

